Before it fell out, I told him the story of the tooth fairy, who spends the nights seeking out the cleanest, whitest, best brushed, pearliest lost teeth from little boys and girls, so she can take them back to Fairy Land to help build their beautiful, shining, white castles. The prospect of her leaving a gold coin in return, definitely got him very interested! But Freddy, being Freddy, was quite anxious about the actual mechanics of losing a tooth - Would it hurt? Would he look weird? Could he eat? So, unlike his siblings, he didn't go for the 'ripping it out' technique, instead he waited patiently for nature to take its course. It was wobbling around in his gum for over four weeks.
Then last night it happened. The wobbly tooth fell out, cleanly and painlessly. No drama!
Freddy put the tooth into the little pewter tooth fairy pot that has been used in the past by his siblings, and put it by his bed. I have never seen him quite so thrilled about anything in a long time. Even the excitement of Santa's visit last month was not as great as the prospect of a castle-building fairy bearing cash visiting our home.
I think it was 4 am this morning when Freddy crept into our bed. By half past he was asking if we could go check the pot to see if his tooth had been exchanged for a coin. I managed to shush him back to sleep, but within minutes he was asking again. This continued off and on and off and on until about 6 am, when I finally gave up and told him to go and take a look. The discovery of a pound coin in place of his tooth was a cause for true joy. Not even the delivery of his Christmas stocking elicited such an excited response.
So my little boy has taken another step along the path of growing up and I get to enjoy doing it all again. As he is my youngest and my last child, I intend to savour every single moment of every single stage and relive the magic of childhood as he experiences it all for the first time.
